


‘Tis magic, magic that has ravished me

by middlemarch



Category: A Discovery of Witches (TV), All Souls Trilogy - Deborah Harkness
Genre: Congregation - Freeform, Conversations, Daemons, F/M, I mean you could see it that way, Professors, Research, Romance, Vampires, Witches, are the women ganging up on Matthew?, world-building
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-02
Updated: 2019-09-02
Packaged: 2020-10-05 13:21:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20489555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/middlemarch/pseuds/middlemarch
Summary: Poli Sci 101: Creature World Order. A class Matthew has never taken.





	‘Tis magic, magic that has ravished me

“So, the Chinese and the Aboriginal Australians must have refused to be involved. And the Baniwa, of course,” Diana said. She’d been listening to Matthew explain the intricate dynamics of the Congregation with occasional, extremely dry interjections by Miriam, for over an hour. She’d waited too long to understand the world of creatures. Now she had to cram but she had done some focused research while Matthew lingered in the bath. He had a particular fondness for Em’s rosemary bath salts and she’d found him a passable glass of red wine to sip.

“What do you mean?” Matthew said. He was genuinely puzzled, she could see that, and Miriam gave her a small, equally genuine smile for making him so. 

“They have governing bodies for their creatures, naturally. The Ngan-neel and the World’s Circle based in Fuzhou. The Baniwa call it the Coil. The Congregation must have diplomatic relations, must have asked for assistance. Advice? Some sort of neutral opinion?” Diana said. Matthew’s expression was harder to read than usual, his mouth held tightly. If they’d been alone, she would have kissed him before saying anything else, kissed him long enough to make his green eyes smoky, to make him laugh against her mouth. Miriam was a brake, which wasn’t the worst thing.

“The Congregation is unique,” Matthew said.

“No, it’s not,” Miriam replied, before Diana could challenge him.

“Miri!”

“The Congregation is run by isolationist, Euro-centric vampires and witches. Agatha spent a decade trying to open a channel with the Ngan-neel and then Baldwin and Peter Knox dismissed her,” Miriam said.

“Oh dear,” Diana said. Matthew still looked gob-smacked, his face unfamiliar with the expression for over a thousand years.

“Miriam? Diana, I don’t understand,” Matthew said,

“There are other creatures in the world. The world is wide, Philippe’s Congregation is only one governing body. Honestly, there’s a group of Greeks, East Germans, Basque and Welsh creatures who call themselves the Agora, with four year rotating terms and an oracle, based out of Delphi, even though they admit it’s almost a joke. That’s why none of the humans suspect, you see,” Diana explained. Miriam nodded while Matthew rubbed a hand across his eyes.

“How did you find out about this?” Matthew asked.

“How? How do you think? I went online and Googled, send a few emails. I didn’t rely on Wikipedia, if that’s what you mean. I have PhD in history and a tenure-track position at Yale, I know how to do proper research,” Diana said.  


“You know more than I do then,” Matthew admitted. 

“Are there injunctions against contact with other creatures’ organizations? Rules we’d have to break—or skirt?” Diana asked. Matthew shrugged.

“Miriam? You’re better able to answer than I am, for all that I thought I knew every detail of the Congregation,” he said.

“You knew what Philippe wanted you to know,” Miriam said, not unkindly. She finally looked at ease in the Bishop farmhouse. “There’s nothing formalized preventing contact. But I think if we want to consider an alliance, it would be best to consult with Agatha and Hamish. The daemons have never been quite so rigid about creatures and they have a longing to come together.”

“I think that’ll be your call, Matthew,” Diana said. 

“I’ll call Hamish. He’ll enjoy the hell out of this, in every way,” Matthew said, leaning back in his chair, closing his eyes briefly against the sunlight and the revelation. 

“Don’t you think you’d like to call him now?” Diana said. Miriam snorted.

“I believe you’re meant to say,_ yes dea_r about now, Mattie,” Miriam said.

“For fifteen hundred years, you thought you knew the measure of the world. And now you find it’s so much greater than you imagined. Don’t you want to explore? Aren’t you curious?” Diana said.

“_Oui, mon coeur_,” Matthew said, smiling as he stood and walked out of the room.

“He took that better than I’d have expected,” Diana said.

“Eh, I’m not surprised. He loves a project, Matthew does, and a mystery. And now a witch,” Miriam said. “He’ll have his heart’s desire. And he deserves that.”

**Author's Note:**

> To be fair, it's possible that in the books, there is a better explanation of world governance of creatures but if so, I honestly cannot remember it. To me, the idea that the Congregation is the sole governing body of creatures in the world is frankly absurd as well as centering Western cultures. Kind of like how there is supposed to be one Wizarding school in all of the US (I have written on this theme before).
> 
> The title is from Kit Marlowe, because they're going to end up seeing him soon...


End file.
